Trans Fats

I've been reading up on trans fat today; it seems that most doctors are naming "trans-fatty acids" as the biggest culprit in our diets.

Here's are some clues to help you avoid them:

the categories of foods that are likely to have trans fats: 
• Fast foods - fried chicken, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches, French fries, fried apple or other pie desserts
• Donuts, muffins
• Crackers
• Most cookies
• Cake, cake icing, & pie
• Pop tarts
• Microwave popped corn
• Canned biscuits
• International and instant latte coffee beverages parents are more likely to use

To read the entire article from which this information came, click HERE.  If you read it, you'll see that yes, trans-fats even harm children.

getting back on track

Cliff and I both slipped this past week.

Cliff went to Minnesota with his brother, to a car show.  He had no choice but to eat every meal out, at the greasy spoons Phil seems to love.  He was able to eat cereal and fruit at the motel though, and he did make wise choices about the amount of food he ate; although he picked up 1 1/2 pounds, I know that will be shed by next week.  Yesterday his blood pressure was 20 points higher than it's ever been since his surgery (the top number was still under 140, though).  Salt obviously does raise blood pressure.  Today it's 126 over 72, after a day of having less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium.  I try to keep sodium intake under 2,000 milligrams a day.

While Cliff was gone, I ate the pizza I'd been craving.  BOY did I eat pizza!  Saturday I bought two pizzas and some breadsticks for myself and my daughter's family; when they went home, they left pizza behind.  So I had pizza for lunch, and supper, and for breakfast the next morning... all I could hold.  Yeah, I'm a hog.  But I don't think I'll be craving pizza again for a while.  I still managed to be 1/2 pound lighter than last week though.

So, today I weigh 147 1/2, and Cliff weighs 227.

experimenting with oil pastry crust

I've been picking blackberries every other day for the last week from a small patch of tame berry vines we put out several years ago.  I used some of them to make a pie last weekend:  Cliff and I each had a piece, warm, with ice cream.  We sent the rest to my daughter's house so we wouldn't be tempted.

I've always made pie crust with lard or Crisco.  Neither of those is heart-healthy, so today I tried my hand at making a berry pie with an oil crust.  It's in the oven right now.  Hopefully it'll be passable, because I don't like Cliff consuming hydrogenated oils.  Or cottonseed oil.  Therefore, no Crisco.

I found the oil crust harder to handle than my old Crisco crust, and, judging by the scraps I put in the oven to test, not as flaky.  I can live with it, but I'm wondering if anyone has a good oil pastry recipe she wants to share, or tips for rolling it out successfully.  If so, let me know in a comment or an e-mail, please.

And I'm still going to have just one piece of pie, save one for Cliff when he gets home tomorrow, and send the rest home with my daughter.

Wednesday weight-loss report

I'm down a pound and a half from last week; I weighed in this morning at 148 pounds.  Hey, I just realized, I've lost 40 pounds since December!

Cliff, after being at a stand-still for so long, is finally losing, little by little.  He's 225.  Yes, he's been there before, but only very briefly.  From his morning weigh-ins, we can tell he's actually losing now.  He has some size 40 overalls, some almost new, that I found stored upstairs from six or seven years ago.  Also a pair of size 38 jeans.  These are too small for him, but I imagine ten or fifteen pounds loss will get him wearing them, so he has that for his next goal.

Cliff has always eaten pretzels as a crunchy snack, but of course they have too much salt for someone trying to take care of his heart.  I had searched the grocery shelves trying to find something crunchy and crisp, yet good for him, that he'd like; and I finally found it.  Quaker makes some wonderful rice snacks in both salty and sweet flavors, and they really fill the void.  We haven't tried all of them yet, but I like the Ranch, and Cliff likes the caramel corn.  I wouldn't say they're cheap, but we think they're worth it.  Check out Quaker Quakes.  I can't wait to try the other flavors.  Stick with the sweet varieties to limit salt, because there's a goodly amount of sodium in the others.

Wednesday diet report, after vacation

I had our diet strategy all figured out for our weekend at Branson:  We'd eat whatever they served us on the showboat cruise, and the rest of the time I'd fix us healthy stuff in the camper.  It was a great plan, but somehow the vacation spirit took hold of me.

I guess we didn't do all that bad; the only other unhealthy thing we had while we were in Branson was blackberry cobbler with ice cream.  As soon as we were served, I realized we should have ordered just one serving, and split it.  But it was so delicious, I was secretly glad we didn't do that. 

Our other little pitfall presented itself because it seemed easier to fold the camper right after breakfast, rather than drive ten miles to Branson, then back for lunch, then load the camper.  "We'll grab something somewhere to eat," says I.

Well, once we headed home, wouldn't you know an Olive Garden presented itself, and we really backslid.  Oh, we split one meal between us, but that "Tour of Italy" is huge; so we had plenty.  AND we had the hot artichoke-spinach dip.  Yeah, and all the time I was eating, in my head, I kept hearing the old country song, "It don't feel like sinning to me."

Monday morning, we weighed as we do every day:  Cliff had gained six pounds, I'd gained four.  ACK!!!!

Well, I know enough about calories to realize you don't gain that much weight from two pig-out meals and a blackberry cobbler ala mode.  Cliff was beside himself, after having finally made some progress with his weight loss last week.  I explained to him that it takes 3,500 calories over one's maintanance calories to make a pound.  No way did we have more than 7,000 excess calories which would amount to two pounds gained.

Sure enough, today I am actually a half-pound less than last Wednesday.  I weigh 149 1/2.  Cliff is at 227 1/2, which is a gain from last week, but considering he weighed 231 Monday, I'd say it isn't bad.

Must be all the salt  in eat-out meals that made such a huge, overnight gain for both of us.  Or the fact that our entire digestive tracts were full, for a change.

 

Wednesday diet report

Well folks, are you ready for the big announcement?  This morning I weighed exactly 150!  Five more pounds to go, and I'll be at my goal.  Cliff has finally started knocking off a little weight himself now.  He's 225.

Oh, and I bought myself three pairs of sizeTEN shorts.  It's a funny thing about that, though.  I've weighed less than 145 before, and never got under a size 12.  The folks that market clothes seem to have changed the sizes over the years, probably because we women feel better if we're in a smaller size.  I know I've always worn Lee jeans rather than Levis because a 12 in Lees is equal to a 14 in Levis.  Not now, though.  I'm a Levis woman, except for horseback riding; then it's Wranglers.

Here's one of mine and Cliff's favorite quick and easy recipes.  I buy the no-salt-added black beans, but so far I haven't found Ro-tel tomatoes with no salt.

SPICY BLACK BEANS AND RICE

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained (and rinsed, if they're the salt-added kind)

1 14-ounce can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 cups hot cooked brown or long-grain rice

1/4 cup chopped onion (optional)

1.  In a medium saucepan cook the 1/2 cup onion and garlic in hot oil till tender but not brown.  Carefully stir in beans, undrained tomatoes, and ground red pepper.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

2.  To serve, mound rice on plate; make a well in each mound.  Spoon the black bean mixture into wells.  If desired, sprinkle with the 1/4 cup chopped onion.  Makes 4 servings.

280 calories, 8 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 620 sodium (less if you use no-salt beans), 47 g carbo., 7 g fiber, 11 g protein.  12% iron

This is from a 1996 Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  I've said it before, but it bears repeating:  all the more recent editions of Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks have lots of low-fat recipes, and list nutrients.  

My knock-knees, which are the main reason my knees are bad, sure do show up when I wear shorts, but at least I'm comfortable. 

Why?

Why is there so much salt in processed foods?  Especially tomatoes?  I've found I can cut the sodium in any recipe at least in half, if I buy "no-salt-added" tomato products... IE, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, etc.  Canned beans (kidney, garbanzo, pinto) are bad, too, and offer "no-salt-added" varieties.

And WHY is it so expensive to buy heart-healthy products?  I finally found (with the help of a friend) a heart-friendly peanut butter.  It's Smuckers Natural.  And it's expensive.

I've learned that any sort of pickles is heavy on the sodium.  Sausage?  Forget it.  In two patties, there's more than half the amount of sodium anybody ought to have in a day.  At least there's a lower-salt bacon, so Cliff can have his beloved bacon-and-egg-and-cheese sandwich once a week.

Things I'm thanful for?  Campbell's Healthy Request soups; Hunt's "no salt added" canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Things I wish for?  fast-food, low-sodium entrees.  And I DON'T mean a handful of salad.  Come on, McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway:  figure out a way to give us just a couple of low-fat, low-sodium items.  It isn't that hard.

Thank God my husband likes any kind of food when he's hungry, and that he is as intent on staying healthy as I am on keeping him healthy.  Believe me, we are getting our daily quota of fruits and veggies.